Wilbur f



(No Model.)

W. P. DIAL. FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES.

Patented Sept. 9, 1890.

Maw. WMIJM UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. j

WVILBUR F. DIAL, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE WHEELER &WVILSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 436,053, datedSeptember 9, 1890.

Application filed May 31, 1889- Serial No. 312,758. (No model.) A ASewing-Machines, of which the following de-- scription, in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on thedrawings representing like parts.

This invention is intended as an improvement on that described inapplication Serial No. 312,770, filed on the 31st day of May, 1889, bymyself and F. W. Ostrom, the machine hereinto be described beingespecially devised to intermittingly stretch the material to be sewed inthe line of the seam and directly in advance of and close to thestitch-making point. This present invention differs, however, from thatcontained in application Serial No. 312,770, filed by myself and thesaid Ostrom, in that the retarding device, the subject of thisinvention, is made movable toward and from the material, it being borneagainst the material while the usual feeding device acts to move thematerial for a new stitch, the retarding device being retracted or movedaway from the material while the feeding device is being moved backwardto re-engage the material or while the feed-points are-out of contactwith the material. The contact of the retarding device, herein to bedescribed, with the material is governed as to its force by a spring,thus providing for a yielding contact to thereby provide for crossingseams and variations in the thickness of the material being stitched.

Figure 1, in front elevation, represents a sewing-machine of the Wheeler8: Wilson type with my improvement added; Fig. 2, a plan View of theforward part of the bed-plate With the covering-slides omitted to showthe parts below them. Fig. 3 is a section in the line as, Fig. 2,100kingtoward the front of the machine.

Referring to the drawings, a represents a presser-foot; a, apresser-foot bar; b, a needlebar;b, an eye-pointed needle; 0, a rotatingshuttle or under-thread carrier; (1, a take-up; cl, a tension device; 6,a feed-bar; e, a rockshaft for moving the feed-bar longitudinally;

e a rock-shaft for raising and lowering the feed-bar; f, a throat-platehaving a needlehole 2 and a feed-slot 3.

The parts so far described are as common The throat-plate f has usualslots, through I which rise the points of the usual feed-block, and aneedle-hole 2 and a slot 3, through which rises the retarding device, tobe described.

Below the throat-plate f and in suitable bearings in the framework, and,as herein shown, in the bracket m, which serves as the bearing for theusual shaft B for rotating the loop-taker c, I have mounted a retardingdevice, herein shown as composed of a finger n on a rock-shaft n, havingan arm n represented as extended down behind the bracket m, (see Fig.3,) where it is acted upon by a spring a attached to an adjusting deviceshown as a block W, adapted to 'be adjusted on a rod or other guide orway 12, forming part of the frame-work, the adjustment of the springvarying the force exerted by the finger of the retarding device on theunder side of the material lying between it and the presser-foot.

The shaft 13 is represented as provided with a cam 19, which in itsrotation acts on the arm n of the rock-shaft and causes the retirementof the retarding device from contact with the material, as when thefeed-bar is on its return stroke below the material.

The spring acts, when the cam permits, to elevate the retarding devicethrough a slot in the throat-plate and against and to act in holding thematerial between it and the presser foot or other equivalent opposedholder or holding-surface, while ,the usual feeding device acts to pullthe material between the said retarding device and presser, thusstretching the material intermittinglya little at a time directly in theline of the seam and between a stitch previously made and one to bemade. 1

The cam and spring permit the retarding devices to yield to any seam orinequality in the material, and by adjusting the block the force bywhich the material is to be held may be Varied as desired.

I am aware that it has been proposed to distend woven goods while beingstitched, the devices used for such purpose being two feedwheels locatedat one side of the line of stitching; but herein the retarding deviceholds the knitted material close to the stitchmaking point and directlyin the line of stitching and between the needle and the operator.

I do not claim two feeding devices, one moving at a diiferent rate ofspeed from the other or one moving farther than the other.

1. The combination, with stitch forming mechanism, feed mechanism, andthroatplate having a slot 3 between the needle-hole and the operator,and presser-foot or holder, of a retarding device, a spring to normallymove the said retarding device in one direction, and a cam to move itintermittingly in an opposite direction, whereby the said retardingdevice is thrown up through the slot 3 to contact with the materialbeing stitched, while the feeding mechanism acts to feed the knittedmaterial to thus stretch the same in the line of the seam and between apreviously-made stitch and a stitch to be made, the retarding devicebeing depressed when the feed-bar is on the return stroke, substantiallyas described.

2. The combination, with stitch forming mechanism, feeding mechanism,throat-plate having a needle-hole, slots for the feedingpoints, and aslot 3, and presser-foot or holder, of a retarding device, a cam and aspring acting thereon to move the said retarding device to compel it torise and fall in the said slot. 3, and with means to adjust the saidspring, the said retarding device holding the material in the line ofthe stitching and between the needle and operator only when the feedingmechanism is feeding the material, substantially as described.

-In testimony whereof I have signed l my' name to thisspeoification inthe presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

